The Barrie Molson Centre could soon carry a new name, but not before city staff takes another pass at the dollar figure attached to the arena naming rights.
The naming rights to the south-end arena, which is home to the Ontario Hockey League’s Barrie Colts, are up for grabs after MolsonCoors opted not to extend its agreement with the city. That deal expires this year.
Eight companies were short-listed following a city campaign seeking a new name for the building.
Paul Sadlon Motors, whose founder and namesake was in attendance at Monday night’s general committee meeting, has stepped up to take over the moniker, which could rename the BMC as Sadlon Arena, through a 25-year agreement for the building at Bayview and Mapleview drives.
The auto dealership, which has been serving the Barrie area since 1971, says it would pay $2 million in instalments of $100,000 over the course of 20 years, with no payments in the final five years of the deal.
However, after rhyming off a list of financial numbers which other similarly sized municipalities with OHL teams receive for their rink names, Coun. Doug Shipley referred the motion back to city staff to see if the Sadlon proposal is in line with other cities.
Shipley said he felt “awkward” sending the motion back to staff, “but perhaps we’re a little low on what we could be maximizing for our naming rights.”
Shipley presented figures that other OHL cities receive for their rink names, including Niagara at $200,000, Oshawa at $250,000, Erie (Pa.) at $300,000 and Hamilton at $350,000.
“When I saw that and came back to ours, it’s a 25-year deal where we’d be averaging $80,000,” Shipley said.
Shipley said he’d like to see a dollar figure closer to $200,000 for the BMC.
Shipley said Kingston, which has a rink comparable in size to the Barrie Molson Centre, recently rebranded its arena as the Leon’s Centre.
“What I was shocked at was the amount of money that they were able to get for the naming rights,” said Shipley, who noted Kingston will receive approximately $275,000 annually over 10 years.
“I just had concerns,” he added. “I was also raised by my parents that if someone comes forward to you and gives you a gift, you accept it and you be happy.”
Staff will review the motion and report back to council.
If the motion is eventually passed by city council, a dedicated parking spot at the east entrance to the facility could also be provided to the Sadlon family each day from 7 a.m. until midnight for their personal use during any events held at the facility.
In 2011, Sadlon also made a significant donation that helped Georgian College achieve its fundraising goals for their new Sadlon Centre for Health and Wellness.
The naming rights for the Barrie Molson Centre was negotiated in 1994 as part of a land swap between the city and Molson Canada. The city received nine acres of land (valued at $112,000 per acre = approximately $1 million in value) and in return Molson received the arena naming rights.
City staff met with MolsonCoors executives Sept. 28, 2017 to discuss their interest in continuing on with the naming rights of the Barrie Molson Centre. MolsonCoors later followed up with city staff and declined the opportunity to continue on with the naming rights of the building.
